Beats
by Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet
Summary: Series of non-related one-shots, what if's and general ideas. Spans whole series. Latest: Roxas gets a chance to kick some butt.
1. Reoccurrence

Real Life doesn't have a second chance or continue screen. So what happened in those universes where Sora lost his heart during the game?

xXx

It was strangely anticlimactic. It had just been a run-of the mill outing, go to a random world (Hollow Bastion, in this case), take out heartless, come back, rinse and repeat. Except this time it _hadn't_ gone according to plan. Sora had just overstepped the slightest bit too much, thrown himself forward just a tad too far right when a heartless could take advantage, and just like that, he was laying on the floor as his heart slowly floated out of his chest...

Donald watched it all in slow motion because he'd been battling his own overly-large hoard of the creatures and one of them had a hold of his staff and they were somehow immune to his magical lightning.

Goofy had been off on the other side of the square, busy with his own battle...

And there was no one to save him.

"SORA!" Donald yelled, panic running through him. It happened just as it had before. All they were missing was the giant, black Keyblade sticking out of his chest.

Donald sent an over-powered ice spell at the heartless he'd been battling and forgot about the rest of them. He already had his cure spell building, but his friend's body was already fading.

No, No, NO! This wasn't supposed to happen!

"Get back here, Sora! You can't break your promise!" Because he'd promised Kairi and them and the king and Riku and who knew who else that he'd figure all of this out—that he'd keep fighting until they found a way to stop all of this.

But his plea worked just as well in the Hollow Bastion town as it had in the Hollow Bastion castle.

Donald was really getting to a point where he hated this world.

"Sora!" Goofy yelled in horror, having heard Donald's cry and coming over to see what he could do.

Nothing.

There was quite literally nothing they could do.

And then there were the heartless to consider. They hadn't taken a break simply because the entire hope for the world had suddenly ceased to exist. Donald backed up against his old friend as the heartless crept closer and closer.

"What do we do now?" Goofy asked worriedly as he hid behind his shield.

Donald didn't know, but that wouldn't exactly be the best to say in a situation like this, so he wracked his brains as he eyed the approaching hoard. Finally he glanced up at Goofy.

"We defeat these guys, and then we tell the King. He'll know what to do."

"Gawrsh," Goofy said with that troubled expression that said he'd already seen a problem with Donald's suggestion. "How will we find the king?"

Well, he hadn't been _too_ difficult to find as of late...perhaps Leon or Merlin would know?

"We'll find him," he said, hoping he sounded more confident than he felt. "But before that, we have to take care of these guys."

Which, as usual, turned out to be much easier to say than to do. Donald didn't realize just how much they'd begun to rely on Sora and his Keyblade. He'd have to remedy that somehow when they got out of this.

He downed another Ether just as he swung under the mace-like fist of one of the large, blue ones that had just begun to appear. The spiky round ones that looked more like giant tanks than heartless. Maybe if they could get to the Postern and whatever was beyond that to Leon...or should they turn back and try for Merlin's place?

He didn't know.

All he did know was that he and Goofy couldn't stay here unharmed much longer. He heard his companion gasp in pain and threw a potion at him.

"Thanks, pal," the Captain of the Guard said, relief evident in his voice, but they were running out of their resources and might well be joining Sora soon if something didn't—

It came out of nowhere. A blur of color and a cling of two objects clashing. Donald cringed away for just a moment before looking behind him to where the sound had come from. He saw the end of a claw from one of the Neoshadows just inches from his beak. Not for the first time in his life, he was thankful feathers covered his face as otherwise he would have blanched.

Then he realized what had stopped it from getting him.

A Keyblade.

Held by a human.

Donald's eyes followed the shaft up to the figure, whose back was turned to him, and couldn't help his bill from dropping.

It wasn't Sora. He could tell that right away. And yet...

The fight continued with far better odds now that another Keyblade wielder had jumped into the fray. They made short work of the remaining heartless, much to Donald's relief. He leaned forward, taking in and letting out a deep breath as the last heartless' heart vanished into the air.

That was when the kid turned and looked back at him with a scowl, throwing his Keyblade over his shoulder.

"I can't believe it! What has that idiot gone and done now?!" he asked angrily.

Donald and Goofy could only stare.

xXx

"So, you're Sora's nobody?" Donald asked skeptically. The kid had explained things...but that didn't mean he believed it for a second.

"Just like those Organization guys?" Goofy asked.

The boy, Roxas apparently, scratched the back of his head. It was such a Sora-like gesture that Donald almost found himself reevaluating his opinion.

"Yeah, I guess. I'm just glad I remember everything this time."

"You guess?" Donald asked.

"Actually, he's part of the Organization," a familiar voice rang around them. The entire group looked around before turning towards the sound of the rushing of wind signifying an opening into the realm of darkness. A few feet down the path, a red-haired man with purple triangles on his cheeks stepped out. He wore the black, Organization cloak and a smug grin on his face.

The Keyblade that had vanished out of Roxas' hand returned in a heartbeat, but he looked hesitant none the less.

"Axel."

"Is that any way to greet your best friend?"

"Wait, you're _with_ the Organization?" Donald interrupted their exchange worriedly as he glanced back at Roxas.

"You guys are friends?" Goofy asked, looking as confused as ever.

"No," Roxas replied firmly.

Axel frowned. "That's not very nice."

Roxas rolled his eyes. "The organization tried to replace me with another Keyblade wielder. They tried to use me to gather hearts and then intended to erase my very existence! There's no way I'm going back to them! And if you're with them..." He faded off and left the conclusion unsaid.

If anything, Axel just looked more confused. "I don't know where you got your information from, but that never happened."

Roxas deflated ever so slightly. "You wouldn't remember her, I don't really remember...but I did meet her and she told me everything."

"Now you're not making any sense," Axel pointed out sharply.

Donald watched at the two eyed each other, each tensing and getting ready for a fight. He decided that he (and hopefully Goofy because he didn't really want to draw attention to the two of them at the moment by actually speaking up and asking) would try and help Roxas if it came to that, but he still wasn't sure about any of this.

Then, to Donald's surprise, Roxas deflated and lowered his Keyblade. "Axel, are you really my friend?"

To the two spectators' surprise, the red-head looked away, almost as if he were pouting. "You just said I wasn't."

"If you're still with the Organization, because I will fight them to my last breath."

Well that at least sounded promising.

Axel shook his head, the two chakrams that had appeared in balls of flame vanished and he raised a hand to the back of his head. "You're still set on that? You know they'll send everyone after you, right? Do you really think you can fight them all?"

Roxas didn't answer for a few minutes and Donald studied him intently. Then Roxas looked down at the Keyblade in his hand. That was the first time Donald realized that the form of the key had taken on the shape it did when Sora fixed Kairi's pendent to it. No one else should have that Keyblade...

No one but Sora.

For the first time, he began to almost believe that Roxas was Sora's nobody.

And wasn't that a terrifying thought?

"I'll fight whoever I have to," Roxas said finally.

"Why?" Axel asked, sounding almost desperate. It looked real enough that it almost fooled Donald. Almost.

The blond boy sighed and put a hand on his chest. "Because for a little while, I was complete again. Those emotions—our hearts—fill a void that I didn't even know was there. We don't know it's there, and yet we do because we're trying to become whole again, even if we don't understand why." He glanced up at Axel again and his expression hardened. "I'm going to destroy all the heartless I can with my Keyblade. I don't care if they go to Kingdom Hearts or not, but I'm going to find the heartless that holds my heart and find a way to get Sora back."

Axel studied the shorter boy silently for a few minutes. Then he sighed and his hand moved to the back of his neck as if to massage it. "Yeah, that sounds like the Roxas I know. I try so hard to get you back and you go and do this. Somehow, I'm not surprised."

Roxas' eyes narrowed and Donald raised his staff.

"You sent all the heartless after us?" the duck heard himself ask angrily.

Axel turned his attention to him. "I may have redirected a few here and there, but they would have come after you anyway. As long as you're with him and as long as he has a Keyblade."

"So, what now, Axel?" Roxas asked, raising his Keyblade back into a fighting stance.

The red-head frowned for a moment. "I have one more question. What will you do if you ever get Sora back. Just give up and let him live your life for you?"

Roxas didn't seem to pleased with that idea but he scowled determinedly. "The first thing I do when he comes back is kick his butt for letting this happen again!"

The response was so unexpected that all of the other three just stared at him. After a moment he shook his head and spoke more softly.

"Besides, it's not like that. When he lives his life, I live mine too, because we're the same—even if I don't want to admit that I'm anything like that idiot. Besides, it's his life I'm living right now. Nobodies were never meant to exist, remember?"

"Now you sound like Naminé," Axel muttered.

"Naminé?!" Donald and Goofy said at the same time. Jiminy found his way onto Goofy's shoulder.

"You mean like the Namin _é_ I have in my Journal?"

The cool look Axel shot them seemed almost disdainful. "Who knows?"

Donald was about to retort but Axel had already turned back to Roxas. "Your mind's made up, then?"

Roxas seemed to stand a little straighter—just like Sora did when he got one of _those_ ideas into his mind—and nodded.

The taller nobody just shook his head, red spikes following the movement strangely. Donald never could understand why people liked to spike their hair. He'd never do that to his feathers. He thought it looked ridiculous

"I guess I'll just have to report that," he said as he turned around and walking casually towards a dark gate that had opened up.

"You mean, you're not going to fight us?" Goofy asked.

Axel paused and looked over his shoulder at them. "What kind of a best friend would I be if I tried to kill him every time we meet? I'll see what I can do and put them off for a bit longer, but you have to figure all of this out on your own. Got it memorized?"

And with that, he—and the portal—disappeared.

Leaving the three of them to stand in the strange area outside of Hollow Bastion in an awkward silence.

"So, uh," Goofy ventured after a few tense seconds of silence, "now what?"

Roxas sighed. "Now we go find your king. Maybe he'll know how we can fix all of this."

That had been exactly what Donald wanted to do anyway.

"Right," he said with a nod of his head. "Come on, Goofy." Then he turned to Roxas. "I'm Donald Duck. This is Goofy."

Roxas didn't look impressed. "I know. I remember everything this time."

And they'd have to get that story out of him later too.

"Yeah, but now we're introduced," Goofy interjected. "It'll make it easier to work together, a hyuk."

The blond eyed them both for a moment, but finally he turned around and his Keyblade vanished. "Whatever. We'd better get going, then."

xXx

Note: Continued in chapter 3


	2. Paradox

Know that in trying to prevent an event from occurring, you may bring it about.

xXx

It was losing Kairi that changed everything, Riku knew that. He could even get Sora to admit it on a particularly bad day. As much as Sora and Riku were the Keyblade masters, it always had been—and would be—about her. So, naturally, they both blamed themselves. What if they'd trained her more? Or what if they'd been there? Or even, what if they'd actually had the guts to share a papou fruit with her? Would that have changed anything?

They didn't know. That, perhaps, hurt the most; the worlds and chances left unexplored because they hadn't given her the priority in their lives that she deserved.

Suddenly, their many fights in the present for the defense of the future didn't seem quite so demanding of attention... but the past held a glow that drew both of the young keyblade wielders in. In the time following ' _that_ day', they both frequently found themselves lost in memories of the past and dwelt there far more often than they knew was healthy. They couldn't help it, though, and (truthfully) neither one of them really wanted to.

Sora coped by finding a new determination for seeking out and bringing down heartless in an almost hyper-focused hunt for Xehanort—not to save the people he cared for (although that was what he still claimed, and he might even have fooled himself into believing it). Riku suspected (rightly, to a degree) that his pure, incorruptible heart had finally become tainted. He wanted revenge just as much as he wanted to help, and he was different for it—seeking out new forms of power and pushing the keyblade too far in search of new limits, occasionally pushing himself too far as well. Underneath, Riku could still sense the kindred spirit of his oldest living friend, and they would always be friends in his eyes, but he sill longed for the old days and the old Sora who could weather anything with that pure heart of his.

Riku, on the other hand, dealt with Kairi's loss by suddenly becoming more scholarly. He found libraries on the subjects of the past—keyblade wars, keyblades themselves, heartless and hearts, nobodies, Kingdom Hearts—everything he could get his hands on that might even hold the barest hint to finding a way to take Xehanort down, he devoured. That was not to say he lost any of his fighting edge. No, he could still keep up with Sora every time he happened to pass by and they decided to spar, but he tended to hole himself up on the worlds where he discovered treasure troves of knowledge that he could bury himself in, often for months on end...or longer.

His favorite places to find became those libraries or out of the way shops that had been abandoned in the wake of the heartless he and Sora beat back. He wouldn't let other life drive him away from anything that could be useful, per se, but Riku got to a point where he would avoid just about anyone else to the best of his not inconsiderable skill until he moved onto the next world. He didn't want any roots except for the ones that already tied him to Sora (and were near unkillable at this point). Having to move on and probably never come back became the norm and tearing up those roots...

Hurt.

Riku took to carrying several copies of the Ansem and Secret Ansem reports with him at all times, and he would often take one out at random and read over it for the millionth time when he had any spare time—namely, those few instances where there wasn't a new battle to fight or tome or scroll. Sora would look them over as well, although he claimed to be almost as sick of 'those stupid reports' as he was of people that got caught up in his fights against the heartless. Very few people could keep up with him these days and he claimed (whined, really) that everyone would get in his way. He included the King's two lackeys in that, although Sora still never seemed to have the heart to send them away.

Riku feared for the day when he finally would.

It wasn't healthy, and it wasn't right. Their lives weren't anything near what they should be—what they _could_ have been. But somehow Riku knew that there was little they could do, and both of them would give anything and everything—their lives, their sanity, their happiness—to find and destroy Xehanort. Unfortunately, it seemed that the man had taken what was left of his followers and vanished.

As time wore on, Sora's bright smiles (even as faked as they had been since _that_ day) became a rare occurrence as his once irrepressible friend grew more and more frustrated with his own lack of progress. So, Riku stopped trying to bring them out. Riku's exhaustion of resources in his search was beginning to show as well, and he was having a harder and harder time fighting off the feeling of crushing hopelessness that crept up on him whenever he paused in his reading long enough to think about anything besides a good fight.

Scrolls and tomes that he came across all began to do nothing but repeat what he'd already found and he stopped finding any new information. Finally, if reluctantly, he began to move on to other topics of interest that he had seen mention of in his search for Ansem; topics that his single mindedness had not given time to more than glance at before—as odd as they were. One idea in particular that became a new study subject dealt with the idea of using the keyblade and the realms between worlds as conduits for time-travel.

At first he'd dismissed the concept out of sheer idiocy, but the idea wouldn't leave him alone. Xehanort was all but non-existent at this point in time, and the recent years had proven that he and Sora couldn't really _do_ anything about him now. Once he'd realized that, the thought of stopping all of this madness before it had ever happened gained a certain seductive appeal that ate at his soul. True, if he succeeded, he didn't think he or Sora would ever meet Kairi, but that was a small price to pay for keeping her safe. For keeping them all safe. Would they even ever hear of keyblades or heartless or nobodies?

That siren song of a time when there would be no darkness hanging over Kairi or Sora was too tempting of an idea for him to fully dismiss, and so he found his exhausted mind returning to it again and again. Eventually he began revisiting libraries he'd already combed, this time to peruse other books with theories and subjects and ideas that _might_ work. Surprisingly, many cultures had their own different take on the concept.

It took him far too long to pile together a theory that he found he could put his faith in, but he did it. Years of research and learning and compiling paid off. He finally came up with something that felt too right to not work, even if it would be a tad unpredictable. But he was determined to try. To pull it off, he would need to be on a world where the barriers had fallen before with just the right atmospheric and astrological conditions, and the strain to his keyblade would be... but it could—no _would_ work!

It was a bright, sunny day when he finished the theory and finalized the requirements. For a few minutes, he just sat back and stared at the pile of papers in front of him on the table of the abandoned library he had claimed. For the first time since _that_ day, he felt a true spark of hope. He had taken something insubstantial and made it into something that had more than a mere possibility of succeeding. While he couldn't pick a particular time or place, and he didn't know what the journey would do to him for sure, he knew he'd be able to keep his body—unlike Xehanort. The fact that he'd been able to one up that megalomaniac was something he felt a deep, satisfying pride in.

After that, it was a matter of gathering what he would need and doing research on the worlds he knew of. It took him longer than he cared to admit to find a suitable world, but he eventually found the right place and a moment in the near future that he was certain would work.

Then came the two hardest parts. Waiting, and telling Sora. He knew he needed to talk to his friend about his plan, and (worse) the only real down side of the entire scheme. He was too jaded to not have some sort of contingency in place and Sora would be the only one who could do anything if Riku failed.

He'd debated just leaving a note, even had one prepared, but when it came down to it, he'd chickened out. Sora always had been braver when it came to things like this. After far too much procrastination, he sought out Mickey and told him. Needless to say, the King wasn't happy, but he also knew better than to get in Riku's way. He urged the man Riku had become to inform his friend, but he refused. He just couldn't say goodbye despite knowing how his disappearance would tear Sora apart.

As it turned out, he didn't have to tell Sora anything. Apparently his best friend had been keeping tabs on him for quite a while. As he thought about it, Riku wasn't entirely surprised when Sora appeared at the site he had set apart with a bag in one hand and his keyblade in the other. He'd always known where Sora was and what he was up to, no matter how buried in a research site he'd been. It made sense that Sora would do the same. Riku also wouldn't be surprised if the King had something to do with it.

"You didn't think you'd be able to ditch me, did you?" Sora asked in that false, vague happiness he'd more or less adopted. Always trying to be cheerful, even if he hadn't been able to really smile for years.

"I knew you'd come," Riku couldn't help but reply with a shrug, a grin tugging at his lips. He really wasn't surprised.

"Now you're getting all mystical on me too," Sora said with a sigh. Given the situation Riku didn't think it was his place to ask just what that meant. Instead he continued to look at his watch and wait for the right moment, trying to calculate all the ways this conversation could go. The only option he couldn't afford was Sora getting physical with him in his demand to come. It would take too long. And given the ferocity that Sora fought with these days, Riku wasn't sure he could win.

Sora gave his brightest fake grin since that day, "So, when are we going?"

Riku closed his eyes. He may not be surprised, but that didn't mean he was happy Sora had shown up. He couldn't say goodbye to him like he'd been forced to with Kairi. He just couldn't. He knew what he was doing would change things and there was no way he could know everything that could possibly go wrong. And he was honest enough to admit that he could end up in some truly horrible times that Sora—the real Sora, not this shadow—didn't deserve to have to face because of Riku's failures.

The glowing image of Sora and Kairi in a bright, beautiful future...

Living on.

The emotion of that hope, that possibility was the true power source of this spell gate.

It was power enough to meet Sora's eyes and tell him, "You're not going anywhere. You have to stay here and help the King."

The mask his brown-haired friend had been wearing for so long dropped away, leaving a young man who looked far too old and far too tired.

"They don't need me."

Riku hated the tone of defeat he heard in Sora's voice. Sora of all people didn't have a breaking point—didn't accept defeat or not being needed; of not being with his friends. He was the steadfast one—the one who was so loyal that it reached near God-like levels.

Riku _really_ didn't want to be proven wrong in something so important, especially not by Sora himself.

"Sora, that's not true. Besides, I don't know what this is going to do to me. I don't know if I'll lose my body or my memories or my heart. I don't know if I'll become darkness all over again and I don't know if I'll even be able to keep a hold of my goals. It might change me irreparably—again—and I don't know what I will even look like once I'm done. I could be younger or older, sick or healthy... All I know is that I have to try...and that I have to do it alone."

"Don't you see," Sora argued firmly, "that's exactly why I have to come with you! Between the two of us—"

"And what will happen here?" Riku interrupted. "I know we can't find Xehanort now, but that doesn't mean he isn't still out there. This world might keep existing or I might go back in time too far to do any good or not far enough—and that's if I survive at all. They need a keyblade wielder here, more than just the King." He sighed and looked back at his watch. "After all, it took two keyblades to seal the realm of darkness."

"They have Lea," Sora protested again, but it sounded far weaker than it had before. Good. He was beginning to see reason.

"And what if they need three or—"

"Or seven!" the younger keyblade wielder interrupted. "What if we need you and you're not here?! What then?"

At that Riku looked down. "We already lost our seventh representative. What will one more matter?"

"Or two?" Sora asked quietly.

"I don't know if we'll even stay together. What if you end up in the keyblade wars and I'm stuck back on our island? I couldn't live with myself, Sora. I couldn't lose you like that...not again. Not like..."

Riku faded off, unable to continue and they sat there in the silence for a few seconds as they dealt with the pain his words had dredged up.

And then Sora got that set look on his face and folded his arms. "Riku, I'm coming, whether you like it or not. Someone needs to remind you that you have friends to fight for. And you need to remember Xehanort. Between the two of us, we can remember that!"

"Oh, I won't forget him," Riku growled. He even held up his forearm and turned it so Sora could see. On the inside of his arm, he'd tattooed the words 'Remember Xehanort'. "If I lose my body, I should still have my memories. If I lose my memories, I'll still have my body...at least I hope that's how it works. In theory, it is..." In truth, he was positive he could keep his body, but the memories were something no one could be sure of.

At that Sora stepped forward, a small but surprisingly genuine smile coming to his face for the first time in what felt like decades.

"We'll find out together."

Riku stared at him for a moment before reaching over with his own smile and putting an arm on Sora's shoulder.

"No, we won't," he said. "Sleep."

It was a magic spell he'd learned from some questing book somewhere, one that he was sure Sora didn't know. As such, he had no way to fight against it. Those clouded, blue eyes of his closed and he fell forward. Riku caught him and laid him gently on the ground before glancing at his watch. He only had a few moments before the spell wore off, but it should be enough time.

"I'm sorry," he said and left the note on his best friend's shirt. It would explain everything, he hoped. It also apologized one final time.

Then, before he could change his mind, he turned and activated the armor Yen Sid had given them once they earned their Mastery. Then he opened the doorway, turned his keyblade to its vessel form, and flew through it. He looked back just as Sora sat up and leaned forward, hand outstretched. He ignored the tear running down his cheek as the doorway closed, separating him and his best friend forever.

Immediately, he knew something was different than when he'd traveled between worlds like this before. There was a _pull_ there that he'd never experienced. It wasn't an altogether painful feeling, but neither was it pleasant. Still, he smiled in triumph, because it was a sign that his theory had been _right._

He was beginning to understand just why people did experiments and why they sought for new knowledge. There was a rush to discovering something new or rediscovering something lost. He hoped he remembered that feeling too when he got done with this.

It became more and more difficult to move on, but he pushed through, determined to keep going forward. It was getting hard to breathe, even within his armor. The darkness between worlds had swarmed in to crush him with far more force than ever before, but he continued on. He had to make it! He just had to...

Fog settled over his mind, making his thoughts difficult to comprehend—to remember.

He had to do what? He was going somewhere, but...where was it again? And why was it so important?

He wracked his brain, but the answers seemed to slip out of his reach the more he grasped for them.

What had he been doing? And who had he left behind? And why?

And...wasn't this a nice feeling. For the first time in—well he couldn't' remember, but he assumed a long time—he felt _free_. His heart didn't have the anger or pain or guilt weighing it down.

Then again, why should it? What had he done to deserve such emotions. He couldn't remember.

And S...S... Someone whose name started with an S...he thought. Or K... Nope, that one seemed lost too, and with the lack of it—of all of it—his worries seemed to dissolve.

Why was he even moving forward? If he kept going, he might die! It was getting _painful_ to move on. And...what was the point after all?

And so he stopped.

As soon as he did, the light enveloped him and he knew no more.

xXx

"Hey. Hey, are you okay?"

A voice tugged at his unconsciousness, distant and muffled and really he just wanted it to go away. His head throbbed and _nothing_ felt right. His body seemed smaller than it should be for some reason, and he did not like the sensation.

"No, seriously, you need to wake up. It's dangerous here!"

Somehow that still didn't really reach him, but he decided that if he humored the voice, he might be able to send him away and go back to sleep.

The roar that sounded near them overrode that and he jumped to his feet, weapon appearing in his hand.

"Whoa, that one is close," the voice beside him said. He turned to look at the source, but a sudden bout of dizziness had him falling forward. He tried to catch himself, but couldn't seem to get his hands to work correctly. Fortunately, the other person was fast enough to rush forward and catch him.

"Hey, hey, easy," he said. "I don't know how you got here but..." the other person trailed off and he managed to open his eyes to see a young man with dark hair pulled up into a sort of top-knot. The kid was staring down at whatever he had in his hand.

"Is that a keyblade?" the boy asked.

"Um..." his voice sounded so dry and scratchy and it hurt to use. He hoped that would heal eventually. How had that happened anyway? He couldn't remember.

"The only other keyblade wielder I've met is my master. Who are you?" the boy continued, unaware of his thoughts.

He opened his mouth to respond, but nothing happened. No name came to mind and he felt a sudden panic come on. It felt as if everything that made him who he was had been locked away in his mind somewhere he couldn't reach it. When he tried to think of his past, all he could seem to think of was a dark fog of nothing.

"I... I..."

"Hey, you have seriously awesome eyes—never met anyone with yellow eyes before. And that's a cool tatoo. 'Remember Xehanort'. Huh, is that your name? Are you Xehanort? Am I even saying it right?"

"I don't know..." he managed to get out, trying to push the panic back. It wasn't working. All of the other boy's questions weren't helping either.

"Well, we'll just call you that for now, okay, Xehanort?"

He frowned. Something inside of him did _not_ like that, but what else did he have to go on at the moment? So he said nothing.

"Come on, let me get you back to my master. I'm sure he can help."

He let the boy help him to his feet and swung an arm around his shoulder.

"Thank you," he said finally.

"Hey, I couldn't leave you here for _those things_ ," the boy said with an awkward shrug. They both looked back at the looming forest behind them and shuddered. The newly dubbed Xehanort still didn't know what 'those things' were, but after that roar, he wasn't sure he wanted to.

"So, what's your name?" the white-haired boy turned back around and asked tiredly, deciding he would very much like to change the subject. "I should know who saved my life."

The dark-haired boy smiled. "Eraqus. Nice to meet you, Xehanort."


	3. Reoccurrence II

Reoccurrence Part II

xXx

Darkness.

He'd felt this before, but he knew there was nothing he could do about it. So he curled in on himself and tried to remember...

It didn't work. All he felt was that gnawing hunger. He had a hole he needed to fill, but no matter how much he consumed, it was never full. Never...

At times, he caught glances of the outside world as his form changed from a little shadow, to something bigger, and something stronger, and then something that could fly and vanish and it was all so he could try and fill up that void...

And then the boy with the blade like the key and those eyes—those familiar eyes—perhaps if he consumed the boy's heart...but no, there wasn't a heart there to consume.

He paused in his attack, just for the barest moment, and saw recognition pass through the other's eyes. Then there was a streak of light and he knew nothing but peace.

xXx

Roxas fought his way up the World that Never Was, ignoring all of the memories that bombarded him. He was sure it was the right time.

When a person became a heartless, they were more or less torn apart at a spiritual level. The soul and body left behind became a nobody (if that person was lucky) and the heart went to Kingdom Hearts. The heartless were really the beings that shouldn't exist. They were the embodiment of nothing—of a hole being torn in the fabric of the world where a full-fledged person should be.

Roxas's personal theory was that they were the glue that held a being together, because they had what was left of the consciousness that the person used to be. At least, that was the impression he'd gotten when he examined Sora's memories of being a Heartless.

The first time Sora had become a heartless, Kairi, being the amazing person that she was, had called his heart back to his consciousness, and that had somehow generated a new body. He suspected it had to do with her innate power somehow as well.

This time around, it was too late for her to call the heart back from Kingdom Hearts and it had taken them all too long to find the heartless that embodied Sora's consciousness. Appropriately, they'd found him in Hollow Bastion, one of the giant, red, triangular monstrosities that loved to toss out bombs like they were candy. Roxas was sure that one had paused in its attack—and _recognized_ him for who he was.

Once the consciousness was set free from the darkness—detached from the emptiness of the heartless—it would either find its way to him (he was pretty sure that hadn't happened) or its heart (far more likely). And so it had finally been time to traipse up through the World that Never Was, defeating Xigbar (he had felt far too much pleasure than any nobody had any right to at that), Siax and Luxord—some of the only Organization members to remain.

And then they'd run into Ansem.

The _real_ Ansem.

Who had the bright idea to try and digitize Kingdom Hearts.

Roxas saw the explosion coming from a mile away, but he couldn't have figured what would come next.

xXx

He woke up inside himself. His surroundings seemed familiar, with the darkness everywhere but below him. The floor looked like a giant, glass window with Roxas and Sora on either side facing each other, but both with their eyes closed.

Then Roxas noticed someone else was there too. Across from him, sat Sora, looking around in a daze.

"W-where am I?" he asked.

Roxas could only stare at him for several seconds. Then he searched within himself and felt that hole that always drove him—that longing and memory—had been filled.

He couldn't help it. He sat back on his haunches and laughed.

"Wait, who're you?" Sora asked.

Roxas looked back and grinned a particularly _feral_ grin.

"I'm the guy that's gonna kick your butt!"

And with that, he rushed Sora, fully enjoying the look of panic on the other's face.

xXx

"So...you're my nobody?" Sora asked from his position under Roxas' shoe. He'd explained everything while they'd been fighting. Which was quite funny because normally he hated to talk while he fought. Ah, well, Probably just the elation of being whole again. It would probably wear off.

"Yup. And," he leaned closer, "you'd better not lose your heart again, or I'll beat you twice as hard. Got it?"

Sora gulped and nodded, still looking dazed and a bit confused. Roxas held little pity for him. He would be willing to bet that in an hour, once Sora felt more like himself, he'd be down there again, challenging Roxas to say that again. For now, though, he'd take what he could get. Especially if it meant they could remain a complete being.

"Good."

He leaned back and fell onto his backside with a content sigh, Keyblade disappearing from his hand. He probably wouldn't have fared so well against Sora if he hadn't just become whole again. It was...disorienting for him, so it had to be extremely confusing for his other.

"You're...not always like this...are you?" Sora spoke up, rubbing his head as he sat up, still watching Roxas warily.

Roxas smiled. "No. You just caught me on a good day." Usually he liked being the quiet, contemplative one.

"And...you're me?"

The nobody just shook his head with a smile. "Don't think about it too much. You'll hurt yourself."

Sora blinked as his mind processed that, and then that spark of fire came back. "Hey, say that again!"

Roxas could only laugh, and yet again, Sora just looked confused. "You may want to get back to the real world. I think everyone's worried about you."

Sora regarded Roxas for a few moments before hopping to his feet. "Ok."

"Oh," Roxas said just as Sora's form started to fade away. "Tell those two idiots 'thanks' for me."

To his surprise, Sora just nodded and smiled, the last thing before he faded, leaving Roxas to sleep peacefully in the wholeness he'd searched so hard for.

xXx

The first thing Sora noticed when he woke up, was that he was lying face down on some strange, white and gray floor. The second thing he noticed, was that his body ached terribly. The third, was that he heard voices.

"Riku! You're...you're..." one voice in particular sounded awfully familiar, and he felt his heart lurch.

"Kairi?" Sora croaked out and sat up. He had a group of people around him—a group consisting of Donald, Goofy, the King, Riku and Kairi. For several seconds he could only stare. Here he'd gone looking for his friends and now they were all with him and safe and alive and... then everyone turned to look at him and he could swear all of their jaws dropped in unison.

"Sora?" several voices said at once.

"Sora!" Kairi and Donald practically dove for him. He caught the former in his arms and didn't mind the latter coming in for a hug. Goofy joined them shortly afterwords.

"Riku!" Sora grinned up at his friend after a moment. "There you are! I'm so glad you're alright!"

The white-haired boy seemed to find that extremely amusing, as he threw his head back and laughed.

"Hey," Goofy said, looking around. "Where's Roxas?"

Sora blinked and then his memories came flooding back.

"Oh...he's in here," he said, putting a hand over his chest and hoping that didn't sound as cheesy to everyone else as it did to him. "He said to tell you two idiots 'thanks'."

"Why that little," Donald started, but Goofy just laughed.

"So, what are we doing here?" Sora asked, trying to forestall one of Donald's tantrums.

"Isn't it obvious?" Riku asked—well, smirked, really. "We're going to take down Xehanort."

Sora couldn't help but blink up at him. "Wait...who?"

"I'd kind of like an explanation too," Kairi said, sitting next to Sora and making herself comfortable.

"You're not going to move unless we explain, are you?" Riku asked, face deadpan.

"Nope," Sora responded, grin firmly in place.

Riku just sighed. "Fine. What do you remember?"

xXx

There's the conclusion to that arc. :) Hope you liked it.


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